The title comes out of some weird play I was doing once with the word “coNUNdrum.” I think I sort of overly manipulated that one, but the point is that that is what I saw, so I just wrote it, and it was a fun sort of paradox, no?

One wonders with wordplay, how much of it is active manipulation on our part, and how much of it is simply following where the letters and words want to take us?

For example, this morning a friend of mine said her husband had once been called “horrid” by someone. I don’t see him that way at all, and it was an odd choice of words. So I thought I’d take out my magic wordplay wand and see where horrid would lead me, in relation to her husband who I know and see as a big kid, always ready for play and at the same time very very intellectual and curious. (Clearly these are not mutually exclusive qualities!)

Instantly I saw “Whore it.” To me that means, swerve the negative connotations of someone who barely knows you calling you horrid. Anyways, that’s their subjective perception and as such, has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. “Whore it” also fits her husband perfectly, because he is a real showman and character, and I could see him flaunting his personality in response to an off-hand negative comment.

No big revelations here. Just some reflections. As I learn more about wordplay, I often wonder where the line crosses between my own active manipulation of the words to achieve a desired outcome, and the unavoidable conclusions that come as a result of having to work within the constraints of a particular word, phrase, or sound.

]]>https://birdpegg.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/run-amok/feed/0sparrowtarotCR Y RChttps://birdpegg.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/cr-y-rc/
https://birdpegg.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/cr-y-rc/#respondSun, 18 Aug 2013 19:49:25 +0000http://birdpegg.wordpress.com/?p=101I want to sit in the cradle of the Y, in that space between the bend in the road, where both paths are open to me but I don’t feel pressed to choose. Where both of the uplifted arms of the Y can hold me safely, and where I can feel like I’m always supported. I could climb down the stem of the Y and walk over to the R next door. I could knock on the door of R and have R open its upper back window for me to climb inside. I could lean up against the plexiglass of the bubble of R and look out without falling, and C, see our why.